Sega and Dolby

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By M. Wiley

This holiday season Dolby Digital 5.1 will be the audio standard in all of SEGA of America Inc.'s new line-up of titles for the Xbox video game system from Microsoft, including ToeJam & Earl III: Mission to Earth, Panzer Dragoon ORTA, Crazy Taxi 3: High Roller, The House of the Dead III and SEGA GT 2002.

"The ultimate holiday gift list for gamers this year will include all the latest SEGA titles, an Xbox, and a home theater system with Dolby technology to maximize the audio for their new SEGA games," said Jack Buser, manager of game developer relations at Dolby. "Everyone should play these games in Dolby Digital 5.1 for the full experience."

SEGA's Panzer Dragoon ORTA delivers an experience that is equal parts action game and Hollywood blockbuster, featuring strategic aerial combat and massive environments. Because the battles occur in the air, enemies can attack players from a full 360-degree field. With Dolby Digital, the player's experience is made more realistic as the enemies' sounds come from nearly every direction. These audio cues increase accuracy and realism during game play.

"Dolby Digital will give players information that cannot be visually described on-screen," said Akihiko Mukaiyama, director of Panzer Dragoon ORTA. "With the control system in Panzer Dragoon ORTA, players can look freely to the front, back, left and right while they are flying, allowing them to anticipate key plot points or enemies approaching from different directions, which makes game play experience that much more immersive."

Gamers should connect their Xbox to a home theater system using Microsoft's Advanced AV Pack or High Definition AV Pack. (Alternatively, the Monster Game cables rock the party.) Either Pack allows Xbox to connect to the digital input of a home theater system to provide 5.1 channels of Dolby Digital surround sound during game play.